- Current maximal width of a map is equal to about 71428 points from one side to the other [or 712 meters], can if needed go up to 20*2^31 points [or 1.5*10^7 meters]! Total max size of the map is that value multiplied by itself.

- Current maximal amount of colonizable stars to interact and claim is 120,000.

- Each star is unique with it's own planetary systems (there all planets has their own size, chemical composition and temperature).

- Current maximal amount of NPC players to compete with during a game is 400.

A 4x game with high quality music and depth.

- The player can select if to play in either realtime or turn based by his own choice.

- Many high talent musicians has together created many masterpieces in the game, for example ghostmagnet's Buckskin.

- More than 10 different species and government settings to tweak which all affects the game's strategy and gameplay.

- Currently 50 researchable technologies (with hopes to expand this to 200).

- Beat the enemy player through diplomacy, spying or with military might.

And a lot more than that is already implemented, and it's still just a little part of what will be implemented into the final version!

I am hoping to change the stars/snow in that picture to a nebulosa and a larger star/planet at the bottom left, though keeping the above look for now.

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Is it going to just be single player or any plans for multiplayer functionality?

Currently single player and I hope to include hot seat within the next few months.

Multiplayer is to be included, though the extent of said multiplayer I'm still considering. If there's not a lot of people interested in the game I will just include IP/LAN capability, though if there's a bit of hype to the game I hope to have something similar to Battle.net and even letting people join in during played games [for example taking over a new spawned civilization, rebelling factions or factions that the creator has opened up for humans]. This I think would be popular as the game's width and amount of players makes sure that new players can jump in at any time and still be a part of the experience instead of just dead wood.

So I got a lot of ideas for the game's multiplayer scene in case the game gets popular but will scrap most of them if it's only me that will be playing the game.

Oh, by the way, anyone that likes science fiction and wish to have something included in the game - please tell me as I am currently trying to proritise different things to be included and would love input what actually is most important for you as a player!

Point is to have an ever-stretching star cluster to make the game feel like a real science fiction experience, and not a fight amongts a few lone stars.

As the size of the map is selectable by the player the player can decide if to play a small map skirmish with 10-20 stars that probably can be won within a hour, or play these gigantic maps and have more content to discover even after weeks of gameplay.

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Oooo! This looks very nice. Will definately have a closer look after work...

Ok, I came back here last night thinking that there was a link to actually play..

When I earlier did show people this game I did post a direct link to the game.

Though got less replies then, just either "OMG, this is the best game I've played and I am hooked all nights", "This game has no 3D! Wtf! This crap could've been played in the 90s but dude, this is the 2000s" and "Why are there no explosions! I want explosions and Star Trek ships!".

And noticed that I got more constructive feedback if I just posted pictures.

So I could PM you the game if you promise to give me at least one comment about the gameplay which should be improved (not 3D or such, please!). As the game's in Alpha I am more concerned of feedback than amount of players.

The only thing I meant with "empty" was that space is mostly empty space, so obviously the maps have to be huge. Not really constructive or anything...I would also like to test the game, but if you don't think it's ready, I'll wait. =)

Though got less replies then, just either "OMG, this is the best game I've played and I am hooked all nights", "This game has no 3D! Wtf! This crap could've been played in the 90s but dude, this is the 2000s" and "Why are there no explosions! I want explosions and Star Trek ships!".

The only thing I meant with "empty" was that space is mostly empty space, so obviously the maps have to be huge. Not really constructive or anything...I would also like to test the game, but if you don't think it's ready, I'll wait. =)

Damn you, Skarion! I'm trying to do my goddamn homework here, but you keep throwing games at me that I suddenly just feel obliged to try out! You want me to repeat a grade?!

Why do you think I began programming games on my freetime? This generation has everything too easy, so I made a gigantic conspiracy to destroy the grades of everyone by trying to create a game which can't be finished within weeks of gameplay, ruining all of their chances of getting good grades.

Oh, f*ck.BTW, how do I move my fleets? I would like to gather a huge fleet on one planet and send them all, but I have no idea how to even move fleets... >_<

I need to figure out why people can't seem to figure out how to move fleets.

Simple answer: Left click on the Star which has the Fleet you wish to move. Right click on the Star you wish to move said Fleet to.

You can't move your fleets to Stars that are not populated yet, that functionality is to be added together with sieges and piracy. So see if you can move your fleet between two Stars you own or against a enemy Star.

Please post if anything that I explained above doesn't work.

Complicated answer for more details:

Go to fleet view, select the fleet you wish to move (the first fleet on the Star is automaticly selected if you click on the Star, though if you wish to use another fleet then you need to click on said fleet with your left mouse button). Then you right click on the Star you wish to move said fleet to.

To organise fleets: To merge/split fleets buttons are to the right, if you want to move units between fleets then you right click on said unit and then right click on the fleet you wish to move the unit to.

Nah, it's okay. I needed a "wasted" game to learn all the basics. There are lots of stuff going on in the game, and in the beginning you don't know anything. You really need a tutorial that tells you that you can do stuff like research (didn't even see it until a few minutes in the game), handle corruption and what creates it (having multiple planets?) etc. The GUI is a little bit spread out. There are a lot of tabs on everything, but in for example the planet info bar you have to switch these all the time. A general info tab would be great for many parts of the GUI, to show basic information in minimal space. Also please, please, please make the planet info bar SAVE what tab I'm looking at when I switch planets. I was gonna upgrade economy on all my 17 planets, and it was like 4 clicks for each planet. Insanely slow and annoying.The menu was running at 10-15 FPS for me. Ingame ran absolutely fine though (constant 60FPS).Some researches seem to lack description (or they don't do anything? >_>). Military tab is not working (under construction, I guess).A loud ping noise or something would be nice for messages, or any other way of notifying that something has happened (messages, colonized, corruption, etc, top right things).

That's all for the moment, time to try out the new version! =D I MEAN f**k LEAVE ME ALONE MY JAPANESE TEACHERS ARE GONNA KILL ME MOAR THAN BEFORE

The empire's organization (higher organization -> less corruption and said corruption get cheaper to handle) and amount of stars affects corruption currently. Dissent, spy operations and such will affect it later on.

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The GUI is a little bit spread out. There are a lot of tabs on everything, but in for example the planet info bar you have to switch these all the time. A general info tab would be great for many parts of the GUI, to show basic information in minimal space. Also please, please, please make the planet info bar SAVE what tab I'm looking at when I switch planets. I was gonna upgrade economy on all my 17 planets, and it was like 4 clicks for each planet. Insanely slow and annoying.

How do you mean? You mean the last tab which was open when managing a star will also be the one that opens when accessing the next star? Can easily be implemented.

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The menu was running at 10-15 FPS for me.

The one with the "snow"? It's poorly done and only there for the moment, is to be completely exchanged later on.

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Ingame ran absolutely fine though (constant 60FPS).

That's been quite a milestone for me (consider that I had lagg with 2000 stars and 40 players earlier compared to the 10,000 stars and 140 players you are playing).

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Some researches seem to lack description (or they don't do anything? >_>). Military tab is not working (under construction, I guess).

The ones lacking description do not do anything ingame yet, will be added later. Lots of research isn't done or not added yet and I am considering rebuilding whole of the research tab later on.

Yes, the military tab is still under construction.

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A loud ping noise or something would be nice for messages, or any other way of notifying that something has happened (messages, colonized, corruption, etc, top right things).

Good idea! Will of course be added!

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That's all for the moment, time to try out the new version! =D I MEAN f**k LEAVE ME ALONE MY JAPANESE TEACHERS ARE GONNA KILL ME MOAR THAN BEFORE

Good luck! Make sure to not get killed as when I now have a guy that actually gives good comments I bloody well want that person alive!

Ah, too slow game... Interesting game to have in the background though! Would be a little easier with a sound for events, so I actually get notified when I lose 5 planets... Game over. xDEasy as pie to understand the fleet system now, so that's okay. Kind of weird though, if I send an already traveling fleet to another planet, they magically get back... >_>HOTKEYS. PLEASE. You need to reduce the amount of micro-management. I find it tedious when I have 10+ planets. Too many mouse clicks. A hotkey for "build fighters", "economic improvement" etc would be so much easier to use than click planet, click build tab, spam build fighter button. Just click a planet and spam Shift-F or something. Also, you're using Java2D, right? Not so sure it's running at 60FPS even though Fraps says it does. UI seems kind of slow to respond (a few millis), but it's still completely playable. Laptop i5-2410M dualcore at 2.7GHz, BTW.The enemies were a little bit... overpowered? I was attacked by battleships when I had fighters, even though I had researched all the time. They just conquered my planets one by one. I also spawned near the edge of the world, which was kind of bad as I was surrounded by 2 scary AIs with more planets than I could count while I managed to claim about 20 free planets until all nearby planets were conquered. Does the AI spawn with more than one planet or do they just love to expand? I felt kind of owned anyway, but maybe I was just unlucky and/or inexperienced...Well, I'm not gonna play any more today (GO AND DIE BAD CONSCIENCE *HUGS GOOD CONSCIENCE*, wait, if I have cute chibi angels on my shoulder...) so I probably won't post anything new until tomorrow (it's 0:41 here) unless I forgot something. xD

How do you mean? You mean the last tab which was open when managing a star will also be the one that opens when accessing the next star? Can easily be implemented.

Yes, if I go to the build tab, I want it to stay on the build tab if I click on another planet, not go back to the fleet tab. That, and/or hotkeys to building ships regardless of what tab is open. =D

Regarding FPS, I don't know how big my map was, I only started a new game using quickstart... I've also only been playing realtime games...

EDIT2: STUPID BRAIN STOP PROCESSING GAMES AND PROCESS KANJISUh, it was kind of confusing getting "New Planet x has been lost to y", as I had no idea *where* that planet was. Maybe (left) clicking on message could center the screen on the planet the event concerns. Maybe research messages could open the research menu. =D

Ah, too slow game... Interesting game to have in the background though!

If you playing realtime then click "+" to speed up the game, at fullest speed it's 10 ticks every second. It should not lagg noticeable at all and will make you not call the game "slow". At that speed you won't survive against the AI as you need to constantly micromanage to handle them.

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HOTKEYS. PLEASE. You need to reduce the micro-management. I find it tedious when I have 10+ planets. Too many mouse clicks. A hotkey for "build fighters", "economic improvement" etc would be so much easier to use than click planet, click build tab, spam build fighter button. Just click a planet and spam Shift-F or something.

Will see what I can do.

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Also, you're using Java2D, right?

Actually using pure Java, Swing and that stuff, as I try to learn all I can do with Java (am a professional Java/Python programmer at work though it's seldom I am allowed to use the graphical parts of Java though sometimes you need to use them).

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Not so sure it's running at 60FPS even though Fraps says it does. UI seems kind of slow to respond (a few millis), but it's still completely playable. Laptop i5-2410M dualcore at 2.7GHz, BTW.

As I use an MVC pattern you update the model at click and then it's shown by the view at next update. Will make it more instantenously later on though haven't prioritised that (so yes, you are having 60 FPS though sometimes the view is 1/10th of a second behind).

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The enemies were a little bit... overpowered? I was attacked by battleships when I had fighters, even though I had researched all the time. They just conquered my planets one by one. I also spawned near the edge of the world, which was kind of bad as I was surrounded by 2 scary AIs with more planets than I could count while I managed to claim about 20 free planets until all nearby planets were conquered.

The AI is quite simple but very effective. It's quite easy to handle the AI when you figured out their gameplay. Though if the AI has had a lucky start they are often quite hard.

My first games before I learnt how to play my records were about 60-70 stars. My current record is 140 stars, though think I can win that game if I just give it enough time.

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Does the AI spawn with more than one planet or do they just love to expand? I felt kind of owned anyway, but maybe I was just unlucky and/or inexperienced...

They love to expand. Default start for the AI is the same as for the player, though you can decimate their starting resources (as to quicken or slow down their expansion depending if you think they are too good or too slow) by going into the custom menu when starting a game.

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Well, I'm not gonna play any more today (GO AND DIE BAD CONSCIENCE *HUGS GOOD CONSCIENCE*, wait, if I have cute chibi angels on my shoulder...) so I probably won't post anything new until tomorrow (it's 0:41 here) unless I forgot something. xD

Good luck!

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Yes, if I go to the build tab, I want it to stay on the build tab if I click on another planet, not go back to the fleet tab. That, and/or hotkeys to building ships regardless of what tab is open. =D

I'll see what I can do!

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Regarding FPS, I don't know how big my map was, I only started a new game using quickstart... I've also only been playing realtime games...

EDIT2: STUPID BRAIN STOP PROCESSING GAMES AND PROCESS KANJISUh, it was kind of confusing getting "New Planet x has been lost to y", as I had no idea *where* that planet was. Maybe (left) clicking on message could center the screen on the planet the event concerns. Maybe research messages could open the research menu. =D